The Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier is in bigger trouble with the Football Association than was at first supposed after virtually accusing the controversial Birmingham referee Mike Reed of cheating.

In a heated press conference, Houllier had already described himself as "terribly angry" over Reed's decision to red card Jamie Carragher for elbowing Martin Pringle in the 68th minute. "When the players know that we have this referee they say we are playing 11 against 12. We had Jason McAteer sent off by him against Leicester and we don't know why."

But it was what Houllier said later in the evening that will perturb the FA even more.

"The referee wanted Charlton to win. Or maybe he wanted Liverpool to lose. He wanted to keep his record up. He should look at himself."

After a match played in a rather surreal atmosphere, created by stories of nobbled floodlights and Malaysian betting rings, this was sinister stuff indeed. The more popular opinion is that Reed is just a rotten ref. He went into this match with an average of 5.29 bookings per game, suggesting he is someone who has great difficulty controlling a game of football.

If the FA deal harshly with Houllier, it can only be hoped that they have something fittingly immoderate for Reed. While the sending off of Carragher seemed harsh Houllier was wrong to assert that there had not been any contact. TV replays suggested the Liverpool defender's elbow did make contact with Pringle and the Charlton player confirmed afterwards: "He caught my throat, which can be scary. But I'm sure it wasn't intentional and I was as surprised as everyone else when he got sent off. I have a big Adam's apple," he added.

Further damage was done when, after Carragher's dismissal, Liverpool were not even given time to re-arrange their personnel before the free-kick was taken and Charlton scored in the 70th minute through Keith Jones.

This was Charlton's second victory in a week, following their 2-0 win over Wimbledon on Monday and with so many of their fellow strugglers not involved in Premiership action it lent fresh impetus to their battle against the drop.

Charlton Athletic: Royce, Mills, Brown, Tiler, Powell, Robinson, Jones, Kinsella, Redfearn (Barnes 66), Hunt, Pringle (Bright 83). Subs Not Used: Ilic, Newton, Barness. Booked: Mills. Goals: Jones 70.

Liverpool: James, Heggem, Matteo, Carragher, Staunton, Redknapp, Ince, Bjornebye (Song 74), McManaman, Fowler, Owen (Riedle 81). Subs Not Used: Thompson, Friedel, Gerrard. Sent Off: Carragher (68). Booked: Staunton, Ince, Bjornebye.

Referee: M Reed (Birmingham).